Treesearch

Standardized survey methods are important for obtaining reliable information on wildlife populations. As a precursor to creating a regional bat-survey (Chiroptera) protocol, we distributed a questionnaire via e-mail to biologists responsible for conducting bat surveys in the United States and Canada. We received 415 responses from 45 states and 7 Canadian provinces or territories. Most of the responses were from western North America. Based on these responses, we characterized the biologists responsible for bat surveys, their objectives and methods, and the habitat types and spatial scales...

Tailed frogs (Ascaphus spp.) oviposit in cryptic locations in streams of the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains. This aspect of their life history has restricted our understanding of their reproductive ecology. The recent split of A. montanus in the Rocky Mountains from A. truei was based on molecular differentiation, and comparisons of their ecology are limited. Our objectives were to provide a range-wide summary of information on Ascaphus oviposition, compare some aspects of the reproductive ecology of the 2 species, and examine geographic variation in their reproductive traits....

Blends of abundant cuticular hydrocarbons are species-specific for termites (Isoptera) and can be used to identify a given taxon without the diagnostic castes, soldiers or adults. We demonstrate that hydrocarbon extracts of termite fecal pellets from damaged wood can also be characterized and used to identify termites responsible for damage, even though termites are no longer present or easily recovered. In structures infested by drywood termites, it is common to find fecal pellets, but difficult to extract termites from the finished wood in service. Nine species belonging to two families...

Recent developments in the modeling of capture-recapture data permit the direct estimation and modeling of population growth rate Pradel (1996). Resulting estimates reflect changes in numbers of birds on study areas, and such changes result from movement as well as survival and reproductive recruitment. One measure of the “importance” of a demographic vital rate to population growth is based on temporal covariation (i.e., do changes in population growth follow changes in vital rates). If data are available to estimate vital rates or their components, then such data can be combined with...

Frequent, low-intensity, surface fires were an integral ecological process in the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest (BMEF) prior to the 20th Century. With rare exception, fires have been successfully excluded from BMEF since the early 1900s. The Blacks Mountain Research Natural Area (BMRNA) covers approximately 521 acres of BMEF in 5 compartments of approximately 100 acres each. With the help of the Lassen National Forest, we have begun to reintroduce fire to BMRNA using prescribed fire. Two compartments have been burned – one in fall of 1997, the other in fall of 2000. Stand conditions...

Mastication of woody shrubs is used increasingly as a management option to reduce fire risk at the wildland-urban interface. Whether the resulting mulch layer leads to extreme soil heating, if burned, is unknown. We measured temperature profiles in a clay loam soil during burning of Arctostaphylos residues. Four mulch depths were burned (0, 2.5, 7.5 and 12.5 cm), spanning typical conditions at forested sites in northern California with dense pre-mastication shrub cover. Two soil moisture contents were compared at each fuel depth to simulate spring prescribed burning (moist soil) and...

We compared the relative abundance of bird species between two ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in northeastern California: one with a canopy of large old-growth trees present (Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest, BMEF) and the other with large trees essentially absent (Goosenest Adaptive Management Area, GAMA). We surveyed 24 units at BMEF and 20 at GAMA using point counts and compared the relative abundance of bird species detected at the two locations using Wilcoxon-rank tests. Overall bird species composition was similar at the two locations. Of the 51 species detected at both...

We evaluated the relationship between crown cover measured with a vertical sight tube and stand basal area per acre in treated (thinned, burned, and thinned and burned) and untreated interior ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa P. & C. Lawson) stands in northeastern California. Crown cover was significantly related to basal area at the plot level and stand level. In addition, the relationship was not affected by two extremely different thinning regimes. However, the predicted crown cover was generally lower, for a given level of basal area, in a recently thinned stand than in a stand that had...

Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses are used by geneticists to characterize the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, provide a foundation for marker-aided-selection (MAS), and provide a framework for positional selection of candidate genes. The most useful QTL for breeding applications are those that have been verified in time, space, and/or genetic background. In this study, spring cold-hardiness of Douglas-fir foliar tissues was evaluated in two clonally replicated (n=170 and 383 clones) full-sib cohorts derived from the same parental cross in two different years (made 5...

One recommendation of the Canadian Landbird Monitoring Strategy of Partners in Flight-Canada is to improve monitoring capability for rapidly declining grassland birds. In Canada, we lack statistical power for many grassland species because they are detected in small numbers, on a low number of routes, or show high year-to-year variability. In developing a Grassland Bird Monitoring program we focused our efforts on improving coverage of “at risk” and endemic grassland species by intensifying coverage of Breeding Bird Survey type routes within degree blocks where grassland is still relatively...